Partnering with operators beats app stores says Telmap

Rating: Going completely against perceived wisdom, then

Here’s an unusual one. A mobile app developer simultaneously singing the praises of mobile operators and boasting about the volume of its iPhone app downloads. Somehow, Telmap has managed to do this.

The open application store industry is where iPhone will see competition. PocketGear has bought out Handango

Mobile applications are often the subject of some seriously ostentatious advertising and promotion. Apple regularly quotes its most recent “billion” landmark, and the Wholesale Application Community announcement at MWC last week was the very definition of grandstanding. But in the older market of platform agnostic app stores, things are quickly getting very interesting. Todays announcement that PocketGear has bought out competitor Handango is only the most recent of several interesting developments.

Want to launch your own mobile app store? Go talk to GetJar

GetJar is an independent mobile application store - unlike the Apple Store or the Android Market, it doesn’t have manufacturer backing as a safety net. But it also isn’t tied down to one device, and GetJar offers free applications to download for pretty much every smartphone platform available. GetJar also claims to be the 2nd largest application store in the world behind the Apple Store (a title that Nokia somewhat amusingly attempted to yoink in December). And today GetJar is announcing the launch of a new service that could be very interesting. App Catalogue Express is a white label mobile app catalog that allows other mobile entities to instantly launch their own app store based on the GetJar catalogue.

Android update: the Marketplace revamp and new Samsung device

Two bits of news for Android advocates to celebrate today. Donut, the next update for Android, is approaching and details are beginning to emerge. The most recent release from Android is about the Market app store. And following yesterdays news that the Pulse will soon be available in the UK from T-Mobile, O2 has announced an Android device of it’s own: the Samsung Galaxy.

Verizon brags 1,000 mobile developers, but the future isn’t bright

Verizon announced its intention to launch an application store back in June. In July, it announced an upcoming Developer Community Conference in an attempt to foster a circle of developers for the platform. Coupled with a competition to reward the developers of the best apps, Verizon has attracted 1,000 developers to it’s platform in the month since the Conference. But will it be able to hold on to those?

Dells Chinese smartphone is anticlimactic, but Dell and China Mobile have exciting announcements

Pictures and information about Dells long-awaited mobile device have finally surfaced. Rumours about a Dell smartphone have been floating about since 2007. Dell fueled the fire itself this year, with CEO Michael Dell talking about a possible MID or smartphone. One week ago, TechCrunch broke the rumour that we might see a Chinese launch within days. Sure enough, 7 days later we’ve got a Dell phone in China - and much to everyone’s disappointment it seems to be a 2G device.

Verizon focusing on mobile applications and partnerships

Verizon caused some surprise last month when it announced its upcoming mobile application store. The plan also comprised a set of open APIs, so that third party developers could get on board and create apps for the Java-based platform. And now Verizon is promoting it’s first Developer Community Conference, later this month. The entire conference [...]

Verizon launches social networking apps for digital TV

Verizon has interesting news releases for it’s digital TV service, FiOS TV, today. The operator has launched services that provide mobile application and social networking service on your television. It is even launching an Open Development Platform that will allow third party developers to provide widgets on the FiOS service, just like a mobile app store.

Windows Marketplace update - Todd Brix from Microsoft talks about the mobile app store

Microsoft had four announcements today for Windows Mobile fans. Todd Brix, Senior Director for Mobile Platform Services Product Management at Microsoft (there’s a mouthful), revealed the details at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.

Open Source mobile services pull together: Moblin to access Android market

Moblin, the open source Linux-based OS for mobile devices, has announced it will be able to run applications downloaded from the Android Market. Moblin users will have the same experience as Android users - simply download, install and use.

Moblin is aimed at the smartphone, MID and netbook market, so it could really benefit from the [...]

GoMo Buzzwatch: Sony Ericsson plays the game right with GetJar and PlayNow app store

Sony Ericsson has announced that it will be selling mobile applications through PlayNow Arena, its mobile content platform. I usually wince every time a new app store gets jammed onto the market, but Sony has done something interesting: it has basically outsourced its entire app outfit to independent company GetJar.

GetJar is independent of platform, operator, [...]

Apple AppStore will soon see 1 billion mobile applications downloaded

Check it out for yourself - the Apple AppStore is fast approaching the 1 billion download mark. There’s a rather smug ticker counting the number of applications as it heads towards the big number - as well as notification of a celebratory special offer for customers who download an app now.

As part of a celebration [...]

Symbian plans for mobile application “warehouse” with multiple stores

The mobile application store scene, which is already getting pretty crowded, is about to get even crazier. The Symbian Foundation has announced it’s intention to create a whole warehouse, which will contain as many app stores as distributors want to create.

This warehouse idea seems to stem from Symbian trying to avoid seeing apps get swamped. [...]

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